Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Tellus – The Questions by Andy Howard

Previously on Tellus South West…….My last blog recalled our project media launch in early August. Since then, aircraft have
been buzzing to and fro across Devon and Cornwall
gathering data on the landscape, soils and rocks, and student volunteers have
been splashing around in streams collecting sediments and waters for analysis.
What have we found out so far?

We set off from a very sunny Nottingham on 30 October, first
thing, for the long drive down to the Eden Project Cornwall for the Tellus
South West stakeholder conference. The aim of the conference was not only to
communicate some of the early results of the surveys, but also to find out
exactly what our stakeholders expect from the project, in terms of new data, information
and knowledge. In other words, what are the questions that Tellus is expected
to answer, and which are the highest priorities?

Fresh from the Tellus Border Conference in Ireland the week
before, we knew that the data delivered by Tellus projects can get diverse
groups of scientists, professionals and decision-makers together in the same room who don’t normally talk
to each other. How were we doing with Tellus South West? Well, only 3 months
into the project, we were already filling the Core conference room at the Eden
Project with a diverse collection of ‘ologists’ - geologists, ecologists, hydrologists,
archaeologists and soil scientists (OK, pedologists)
and many more. There to listen were reps from the minerals industry, local
government, heritage groups, agriculturalists, education, regulators, tourism,
small medium enterprises, boards of trade………..What were their needs? More on
those in a moment.

And here’s what to expect from the Lidar data,showing the
conference venue ( the doughnut- shapedbuilding bottom right) at the Eden
Project

When we traveled to Cornwall
in August we were lucky enough to spot the airborne geophysical survey aircraft
and get right underneath its flight path to see what an 80 metre altitude
survey looked and sounded like. No such luck this time – the survey plane was
in the air but no sightings, so we headed off for our first appointment of the
day at BBC South West. In August the project was captured in a great story
piece aired on Spotlight South West, all about the airborne survey with some
aerial shots and interviews at Newquay airport. This time, we made it onto the studio
sofa, with make-up, poppy, the works, for an interview with Rebecca Wills,
which went out on the Spotlight evening show. Great publicity, and thanks to
Simon Clemison and his team at Spotlight South West for their continued
interest and enthusiasm for the project. Then it was onwards to the Eden
Project to get set up for the next day’s conference, rounding up a long day’s
travelling. There was only one way to finish it, with some good honest Cornish
seafood (no garlic allowed, in case it cramps our style for networking on the
following day!).

Andrew Bloodworth sums up – is that a pumpkinthemed
microphone?

All Hallows’ Eve dawned, and the day of the conference. We’d
set up the morning’s programme with some conventional 15 minute
presentations, so that the project
partners could inform the users about the data we are delivering and show off
some teaser examples, leaving the whole afternoon for some ‘speed dating’
between diverse groups of scientists and stakeholders. The afternoon kicked off
with a dozen 5 minute soapbox presentations from data users, highlighting their
needs and priorities, followed by a discussion chaired by Iain Stewart,throwing
the floor open to everyone to say their piece.

Over-wintering in the northern hemisphere –the airborne lidar survey team from the BritishAntarctic Survey

And say their piece they did. They want data about geology,
data about soils, data about minerals, data about stream chemistry, data about
ecosystems , data about the landscape, data about nutrients, data about dusts.
And more. And soon. As soon as we can deliver it, if we don’t mind (we don’t).

But as the afternoon progressed, more interesting and
challenging questions emerged. Questions that require cross-disciplinary,
joined up action involving diverse groups of scientist and users. Questions
that require researchers to work with users at the sharp end of the value
chain, where the data yields real and quantifiable societal and economic
outcomes. Questions that not only seek new scientific understanding, but also progress
to follow up actions such as new exploration, economic appraisals, risk
assessments, planning and development guidance and regulation that will
ultimately make a difference.

Iain Stewart and Andy Howard, Tellus South
West Confernce @
The Eden Project 31 October 2013

Yes, it’s still early days with the project, there are still
surveys to complete, analyses to finish and data to publish. But we now know
the priorities for follow up, and where to focus our efforts for further support
and funding. That’s the ‘Tellus The Questions’ conference delivered, now we
start work on the ‘Tellus the Answers’ conference for spring 2014. Look out for
more details soon……